


They Raised Us

by berava



Category: Naruto
Genre: Drabble Collection, Family, Family Feels, Next Generation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 07:59:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6846136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/berava/pseuds/berava
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of drabbles revolving around the young families of the next generation, and the lessons they pass on to their children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chocho Akimichi

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write about some feelsy family stuff and play with headcanons. I'm gonna do one for every kid.

With overflowing tables, open doors, and extra seats it was hard to ever feel lonely. The Akimichi clan made an event out of every meal and often had guests freely coming to join them. It was a household forever full of laughter and company, and unless one was just plain miserable it was hard not to be grateful for such a life.  
Chocho's mother brought a love of music to the mix, the evenings before dinner often alive with her jazzy favourites. When she was little, Chocho would stand on her feet and they would dance across the patio outside of the dining room with her father's periodic clumsy accompaniment. Her grandmother could be heard singing along from the kitchen, and any visiting friends were hard pressed not to be pulled into the excitement. As she got older, the only thing that changed was the fact that Chocho didn't need help dancing.   
Not all of her changes felt good. For much of her life she was unwavering in her confidence, believing her parents when they told her she was beautiful and knowing any snide comments about her body were inconsequential. But a time came when her appearance suddenly mattered, when the words started to sting a little. What agitated her the most was the thought that her kinship with the Akimichi clan was unquestionable because she was fat. She looked like her mother from ear to toe, and no one else.   
There was some measure of guilt in her from when she claimed her real father was out in the world somewhere, but she trusted her dad when he said that hormones made the brain go crazy. He smiled and hugged her when she later apologized, like he always did.   
When she admitted to her mother that she worried how the boys would see her as they all got older, her mom had successfully distracted her with a fit of giggling brought on by the claim that all they would see was her bust. Then she'd cupped Chocho's cheeks, looked her square in the eye, and told her to never doubt her worth and beauty for a second. All she needed to do was kick ass and earn her pride in herself. She was fat and she was pretty and she was going to rock the world.  
Chocho said similar words to Sarada when she lamented her glasses and build, and to Inojin when he was laughed at and called hateful slurs for how he looked. People thought she was conceited, and when they said as much she agreed. Because her parents told her to love herself, and she would die telling other people to do the same.


	2. Metal Lee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rock Lee is in a contest with the world for best father. no one else knows this.
> 
> Anyway, Metal Lee is a treasure

Metal Lee had seen every corner of the village while eagerly tailing his father. From the day he could run, he was trying to keep up with the man who was an endless source of energy. There wasn't an experience in life that he felt was beyond his reach, forever encouraged by the man who raised him and given all the love in the world. It was tough love, at times, but always undeniably love.  
Hard work became a joy. He met the sun with enthusiasm every morning and saw it sink well beyond the horizon before he called his day done. He never knew the pains of failure that he's father had when he was young, always believing he could get back up and try again.  
And every day was another opportunity to help someone, to carry bags or weed gardens or find a lost valuable. To put a smile on someone's face was one of the greatest gifts.  
But it wasn't always a gift that gave back. He trusted in his capabilities, but when he first overheard somebody call him weird he had to pause a moment and process the gross feeling in his chest. That was the first time. From there he learned that apparently his looks were strange, his habits were strange, and his behaviour was strange. He didn't understand, at first. Sure, he was loud, but he used it to encourage others. And of course, he spent an excessive amount of time training or otherwise working, but only because he enjoyed it so. He was just like his father, and people treated him with respect and admiration. Apparently children would make up their own minds, regardless of their parents' actions.  
It was around that time he realized his friend pool was shallow. The claims of strangeness hurt a great deal less than that realization. His father immediately noticed the lack of exuberance.  
Regardless of how badly he felt, Metal could always trust in his father to teach him something new. He helped him realize the importance of staying true to himself, and the importance of those close to him no matter how small the number may seem. It would grow, with time, and he should cherish every person that wanted to share in the experience he was. A pot with a single plant was as full of life as a field of wildflowers.  
Sometimes it still made him feel sad, and that was ok. Even the bad feelings were ones he should embrace. He was strange, yes. But no matter what others might say, he was loved, strangeness and all.


	3. Shikadai Nara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This lazy little bean is a treasure as well. This whole family is.

The outskirts of Konoha, where streets and buildings hadn't encroached, were a wonderland of exploration and muddy clothes. Shikadai was a farm kid, according to his peers at the Academy, riding on the backs of deer that his family raised and wandering acres of forest. Though wandering was hardly the right word, when he rarely did any walking himself. When he hadn't commandeered one of the more placid deer, he often talked his way onto his mother or father's back. It was a sad day when they realized he was too big to carry.   
That was around the same day that heading into the property meant work instead of fun. His father began to teach him how to care for the herd and how to make use of their antlers' medicinal qualities. He had to tend to a dying buck (easily the worst day of his life) and help deliver a fawn (simultaneously the best and second-worst day of his life). He cared for them enough that he wanted to learn, but he was driven mostly by his desire to expend no energy. If it weren't for his mother's stern eyes on his back, he would have talked in circles with his father until they both ended up back at the house.  
But she kept them both in check, both with her unwavering resolve and her careful reasoning. Years of marriage to Shikamaru Nara had taught her how best to get through to one of his ilk, and their son was definitely one of his ilk. But her reasoning wasn't just an impossible hurdle to jump; it was often a source of comfort for the boy.  
When he'd been withdrawn and distraught over his budding feelings for Chocho, who he knew would never reciprocate, she'd talked him through the hardest moments of it and shown rare tenderness. When he resolved not to become a shinobi for the work it would take, she'd made him understand the bonds he had to uphold with the Akimichi and Yamanaka clans. Just like she'd made sacrifices for her bonds, he made (much smaller) sacrifices for his.  
His father had been surprised that he wasn't needed for that particular talk. He had seen it coming and prepared his argument, only to have Shikadai readily agree to graduation instead of dropping out. But he'd been proud, both of his son's resolve and his wife's support. They were so alike, father and son. Lazy, undoubtedly, but never unreliable.


	4. Shinki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on team 'Shinki is Gaara's kid'. #noshame

In the early mornings he used to wander the desert canyons with his father, barefoot and knee-height. He was fearless, raised among the dangers of the sands with respect and understanding of the power even the smallest creature could hold.  
It was the only time he saw Dad in casual clothes. Not the white robes or the protective burgundy outfit, just pants and a shirt and messy hair. There was no training or lessons, just quiet time between the two of them, Shinki's tiny hand tucked into the Kazekage's as they traversed ridges and narrow, dusty valleys. Shinki would pick a rock to take home. He still had that collection.  
After he'd graduated from the academy, his mornings were devoted to team training. His father would make him breakfast and they wouldn't see each other again until that evening. Shinki distinctly remembered that the quality of the breakfasts finally started to improve when he was around the age of ten.   
When he became a genin, they had to spend their time together after dinner. Instead of walks, they'd sit together and talk. The Kazekage was never in tune with children, never knew how to talk to them. They loved him, there was no doubt about that. He was the village's most beloved hero. But he didn't know how to talk to them. So when Shinki began to mature and experience life as a shinobi, their conversations would stretch into the hours. He learned a lot about his father's life; when he was called Gaara of the Sand, a moniker that bore a far more menacing weight than one might think. He was stunned to learn that his quiet, gentle father was once a scourge of the Sand village. Unloved and loveless, he had killed for fun or for nothing at all.   
Just as shocking was the fact that his aunt and uncle, two pillars of his life, were once distant and compliant only out of fear. Temari, who was as strong and supportive a woman as he'd ever know, even living so far away. Kankuro, who was Gaara's most trusted person and constantly at his side. He could hardly imagine a world where they didn't love his father. Their past sins angered him, and he refused training with his uncle for a week. It passed without incident.  
It explained much about his father, though. It explained why he kept Shinki so close, even when he tried to encourage his choice to become a shinobi. His childhood had been barren, so he wanted to see Shinki's full of love and happiness. People often commented on how morose Shinki seemed, but it was learned behaviour. He was happy.


End file.
